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Thursday, June 30, 2016

Wildflowers ~ Herefords ~ Ross Moore Lake ~ Kamloops, BC

The quest continues to
find the lake we were looking for last week.
We tried to find a map, but Visitor’s info said the one we wanted are no
longer available. We talk with a fisherman at
a local sports shop and although he doesn’t have specifics, he explains a new
road was built so now we have a better idea of how to find it.

Barn from the Kamloops past

We hadn’t planned ahead
but during a quiet afternoon chat, Keith suggests we head up that road to find
the lake we did not find last week. I’m
fine with that, new territory on a sunny day and new photos make for a great
reason to go and Keith knew where we were going this time.... sorta.

Rolling hills of Kamloops, BC

We see more green rolling
hills as we head in another direction although in the same general area. Ranching has always been an important part of
Kamloops history and there are signs that show some of those family names from
many years ago are still in the ranching business.

Calves afternoon naptime

We did see a few herds of
cattle on the different country roads.
It had been calving season and there were several calves in this small
herd enjoying their afternoon siesta in the sun.

Fields of wildflowers

The
wildflowers are in bloom and we see fields of purple lupine which is the most
common wild flower of BC. They can be
blue, purple or pink. They are found at
all elevations and are a marmot’s favourite delicacy. We also saw fields of oxeye daisies and
roadside patches of wild rose.

Indian Paintbrush

The Indian Paintbrush, as
this is commonly called, is a native wildflower. The flower is edible and was consumed by Native
American tribes as a condiment with other greens. The roots and green parts can be toxic but if
eaten in moderation was used to treat some health problems due to the high
selenium content.

Curious calves

If my very limited cattle
breed information is correct, Hereford are the brown and more common cattle
seen in the area but we did see some black ones in another field. The moms, some had the white faces, were
nearby but their calves were curious enough to stay alongside the road to watch
us go by. Perhaps there were some
Aberdeen Angus in there.

Potholes and puddles

Now back to our quest for
‘that’ lake. The first several
kilometers was not a bad road but that changed. For some reason, I understood that the road
to this lake was a forestry road which led me to believe it would be wide, flat and no pot holes. In my dreams! ‘Forestry’ obviously also means logging road
and even calling it a ‘road’ is being generous at times. This is not the worst part of the road here but it has plenty of potholes to bounce through.

Are we there yet?

So we are back to bouncing
and jostling another 16 kilometres (10 mi) along logging ‘roads’. The good thing is we see there are other tire
marks on this road, so it has been used today.
I am holding onto Maggie, our little
dog with one hand, the camera in the other hand, and the seatbelt stops me from
bouncing off the seat! Are we having fun now! 10 kph (6 mph) is our fast speed.

Ross Moore Lake

We both let a sigh of
relief out when this beautiful sight comes into view! The quest has been conquered and we have arrived. There really is a Ross Moore Lake!

Calm afternoon lake

This lake is a good size
and has a good reputation for fishing.
There were 3 boats just getting off the lake as we got there. We spoke to the fishermen in the last boat
and they had “caught dinner, but the big ones didn’t like the boat” and got
away.

Driver Keith deserves a cold drink

Our quest completed, we
felt a cold drink was a just reward for surviving yet another gruelling (my description) trip on
a local fishing road. I am told this road was like most other fishing lake roads! It had taken us
90 minutes to get here and now we had to return on the same 16 km of rough road
that we had come up to Ross Moore lake on….but we survived another
adventure on our Kamloops country roads.

The earlier adventuresome day as we tried to find Ross Moore Lake can be seen by clicking here.